A Taschen book on Dr. No
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Arriving this month is a new book from Taschen on Dr. No:
"...EON Productions opened its archives of photos, designs, and production materials to TASCHEN. The result is this remarkable account of the making of Dr. No, Bond’s first film outing: a beautiful volume that includes a treasure trove of words and pictures, many of which have never been seen before.
"Access to EON’s James Bond archives was completely unrestricted, so this book is the most comprehensive account of one of the most iconic films the world has ever seen. Step inside the pages to find the true inside story and outstanding insights into the personalities and processes behind the most successful and longest-running film franchise in cinema history.
"You can closely follow the making of the film through a day-by-day account of what took place, which scenes were shot and who made the decisions that shaped the story and characters as it was filmed. Among the 1007 images, you’ll see many rare and previously unpublished stills and on-set shots from photographers such as Bert Cann, Bunny Yaeger and Bradley Smith, as well as memos, documents, posters, and production designs.
"And the behind-the-scenes stories paint their own pictures too, told by the people who were there. From producers Albert R. "Cubby" Broccoli and Harry Saltzman to director Terence Young and production designer Ken Adam, as well as the cast, the crew, writers and stuntmen, these personal narratives invite readers back in time and on to the film set itself."
Sounds good, until you get to the price...$850. Undoubtedly Taschen will release a cheaper edition in a year or two, but will it have all the text and images from the original?
Comments
$850?
At that price, I’ll just rewatch the movie.
Just so 🍸️ Saw an ad for the book, and it looks lovely...but that's not the life I'm living.
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
It's a truly ridiculous price. No new book is worth that, but ridiculous overpricing and the 007 Store go hand in hand.
A lot of Mickey taking about this new book on Twitter. One pointing out that the research took two years - in other words, 2 years ago someone said, how about a 60th anniversary book on Dr No? To which someone replied, okay but it will take two years to put it together....
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Crazy price for a book. This one must be aimed at the 0.01% of Bond fans.
Though if it's a numbers game, that could still turn them a massive profit.
It's funny isn't it... you need to have that money to throw away if you want it. In terms of money's worth... how often would you really look at it? Then again, you could buy a car for three times that amount - second hand, natch - and if you only took it out for a spin 10 times a year, and had to pay more fixing it and road tax and so on - that would also be not worthy of your cash. I hesitate to buy singles and LPs these days because I now have so many, I'm unlikely to play a new one any more than twice, I don't have the time.
But another snag is when you read the Dr No book you'd so worried about spilling a drop of wine or coffee on it, it would take the pleasure out of it!
But I suppose we don't post threads on the chances of buying Bond's latest Aston from the films, so this is in that category.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Paul Duncan has responded on Twitter to the outrage at the price, and notes that with most TASCHEN releases, such as the James Bond Archives, a cheaper trade edition will be available in the future.
Bond on the Box - Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | LetterBoxd | YouTube
An excerpt has appeared in New York Magazine.
Chill, Bondians!
Things, especially if they are produced in limited numbers cost money.
That I do not have, but I really enjoyed the hour long page per page presentation by the creator on YouTube.
Even if I cannot afford this, I am glad I live in. a world where this exists. And you never know. If you really live in this huge book and invest a lot of time in it, it sure beats the money for a laptop.
Such a Taschen Win, this is such an awesome publisher!
I had a friend, who had the diaries of Andy Warhol (where he recalls meeting Roger Moore) and this friend read every day the article for the day- you can do this with this book for the amount of time filming of Dr. No took place.
To put it in scale: I wear not a Submariner I wish I could afford but a Casio Royale.
Absolutely magnificent.
The book and the Sir Sean Connery portrait are worth the price.
Alas, we will never have that kind of money.
But what an amazing accomplishment.
Please watch this in-depth look at the book by the author himself, film historian Paul Duncan (Wordsmith).
I don't mind paying more for a limited edition book, and I have done so on multiple occasions. But paying $850 for a new Taschen book is too much. A genuinely rare old book might justifiably sell for that much, but not this one.
Very much agreed on that. I tend to spend more on older books which are rarer than invest that kind of money in a newly released book. It's just too much money for the ordinary Bond fan.
In my mind, I'm comparing this book to $850 worth of Bond merch and props, and the latter is infinitely more appealing.